Black Eye Syndrome
by WolfOfFlames
Summary: She'd been beaten constantly. She'd been sexually harassed every day. Her life had been hell. He's here to fix it. He's here to fix it for the woman he loves. InoShika Lemons in later chapters.
1. Chouji told him

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. DUH. If I did I wouldn't be sitting on my ass writing these stupid fanfictions.

Pairing: Ino & Shikamaru... The best couple in the series. All you Temari fans can kiss my ass. 8D

Please enjoy.

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Chouji had told him everything that she was going through, and how bad she had it. She had moved into the apartment (that she really couldn't afford in the first place) for the sole purpose to get away from her father. He was an alchoholic, and a _violent_ one at that. She'd constantly have bruises and black eyes from where his fist would plant itself against her delicate face. You could still see the scars from the pieces of glass from the beer bottles that would often be smashed against her head. She'd always lie though, saying that she'd fallen down, or that she had been clumsy; she always worried about others more than herself.

And he never noticed. Once it was shown to him, he realized it clearly. He cursed at himself for never knowing, he felt stupid; even though he was quite educated on the fact that he _was _a genius. And for some reason... he just felt sad. Not just for Ino, but for the fact that he wasn't there for her, when she needed him most.

When they were younger, they had a great friendship; and over the years that friendship had strengthened. He was now 22 years of age, she being one year younger than he was. On a couple of occasions she had shown up at his door, her breath smelling strongly of alcohol. She would stumble in, mumbling inaudible nothings, and her cheeks would be stained, and flushed from the tears that had leaked from her eyes. He would catch her as she passed out, and fell into his arms, and he would pull her close, wondering all the while why she had done all of this to herself. He would take care of her, and lay her down in his bed, while he fell asleep on the couch. She would be gone before he woke the next morning, and the next time she saw him, she would apologize to him, with tears dwelling against her eyelids. He would tell her that it was no problem, and he would overlook everything.

And now he knew why she resorted to the same pain-numbing substance that her father used so frequently.

And then Chouji told him about the horrible place where she spent most of her day.

He followed close behind her, unaware of the circumstances that lie ahead. She was dressed in a black miniskirt that came up mid-thigh, and a tight button-up, white colored shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her smooth blonde hair was pinned back into a bun, instead of her usual ponytail.

The doors she stopped in front of, belonged to a place that Shikamaru identified as an old, fight tolerant, and skanky bar. He watched her closely as she stopped for a moment in front of the door. Her knuckles were white as she clenched her fists together tightly, to hold back the tears. She shakily stepped into the bar. He followed her inside and walked to the opposite side of the bar, so she wouldn't spot him. As she walked behind the counter, he could see her talking to another woman in the same outfit, he assumed that they were waitresses. He looked around for a moment. The bar smelled heavily of the alcohol that it sold, and even more heavily of smoke, it was a bit hard to breathe. Old beer advertisement magazine ads were posted up on the wall, which were slightly stained yellowish-brown from all of the years of soaking in nicotine. There were bits of glass all over the floor, and many of the tables and chairs were busted or broken.

She caught his eye again, as she carried a tray over to a table of drowsy loud men, he could hear them from all of the way from across the bar.

"Hello gentlemen, is there anything else that I can get for you tonight?" She put on the fakest smile that he'd ever seen.

"Yeah... How 'bout a little head?" He slurred the disgusting remark. His friends just laughed triumphantly at him.

Her smile turned to a frown, and she turned around to head back to the counter. Suddenly, she felt the man behind her roughly slap his hand across her ass. She turned around, and slapped him as hard as she could, and he fell to the ground. Shikamaru just stared in disgust at the man, oh, how bad he wanted to get up and snap the fucker's neck.

She walked behind the counter, and a man came out of the office that was behind it. He grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled her up close to his face. He said something in her ear, that made her talk back to him, in which looked like an angry tone. He pointed out towards the table, yelled at her, and then disappeared back into the office, slamming the door. She sighed, and quickly walked back over to another table. He assumed that the man was her boss.

"Anything you want this evening, sir?" She put on another fake smile.

"I'll take some of that ass." He laughed at her, Shikamaru could already tell that he was drunk as hell. She rolled her eyes, and turned around. He came up behind her, and reached his arms around to grab her chest.

"Get your fucking hands off of me!" She turned around and punched him in the stomach, he bent over and grunted in pain. After a second or two he straightened back up, and quickly punched her right in the face. She screamed and fell backward, hitting the floor hard, and knocking over a couple of chairs on her way down.

"Bitch! You never fuckin' raise your voice to a man! I will fuck you up!" He almost inaudibly screamed at her, and grabbed the collar of her shirt, pulling her up off of the floor. He fumbled around at his back pocket, and pulled out a large pocket knife, and put it to her throat, her back to him. He yelled at everyone in the room.

"Everyone! Get the fuck out, before I slit this bitch's throat!!" Everyone started panicing, and he kept screaming curse-stained slurrs at them. After a short while, the bar was empty, except for Shikamaru, he was hiding under a table, waiting for the perfect moment to strike him. He was shaking with anger, his fists were clenched tight.

"Now, you're gonna get what's comin' to ya!" He still kept the knife at her throat while he started pulling her skirt down, and unbuttoning his pants.

"No! Please! Let me go!" Tears were now streaming down her cheeks. She wiggled around a bit, causing the knife to cut slightly into the soft skin of her neck, she held back a scream, as he pulled her closer.

The adrenaline pumped through Shikamaru's veins, as he closed in on the drunkard. A loud sound of smashing wood sounded from the man's head as a chair was slammed over it. The man fell forward, knocking Ino over, and landing on top of her. He groaned in pain, and Ino took the opportunity to try to wriggle out from under him, and pull her skirt back up. She stared wide-eyed, still trying to fully interperate what had just happened.

"Get the fuck off of her!!" He screamed as he roughly clenched the drunk man's shirt and pulled him back so hastilly, that the man crash landed into another table, crushing it in two. The man was so drunk, it was hard for him to interperate pain, so he slowly rose to his feet. He mumbled something about kicking Shikamaru's ass, and stumbled toward him quickly. He caught him off guard with a punch, but Shikamaru countered with a kick to his chest, knocking him backwards again, and into another table. He stood and stared at him for a moment; the man finally seemed to be unable to stand, still concious. He looked over his shoulder at a teary-eyed Ino, and his eyes swiped across hers, seeing the sadness, and shock in them. He turned and walked over to the man. He grabbed the collar of his shirt, and held his fist to his face.

"Listen. If you EVER fucking touch her, or even come within a fucking MILE of her again, I swear to God I will slit your GODDAMNED throat!! You GOT that?!" The man drowzily nodded, and Shikamaru pushed him back down roughly.

He turned around to face the woman he had protected.

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More chapters coming soon. 83


	2. You Could Call Him Old School

Here's chapter two. :) Enjoy.

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Ino woke up to the sight of a small room.

It was plain, not really decorated at all. The floor was wood-panelled, and the rest of the room was covered in white paint. The slightly wrinkled sheets that she slept on were light blue, along with the pillows. There was a small dresser that occupied the space right beside the bed; it looked old, most of the corners were rounded off a bit, and a bit of the wood on the sides was chipping. Two of the three drawer knobs were missing, and half open, so they were easy to access quickly. The brightness that lighted the room seeped out from the glass in the half-open-blind covered window, rather than the small lamp sitting on the dresser.

She already could tell who the room belonged to.

The door slightly creaked as she pushed it open, and looked around the corner. She made her way to the bathroom, and stared at herself in the mirror that was placed on the wall. Her left eye was fully blackened, and was swelled slightly. Her back, and shoulders ached badly, but she had had worse pain, so she could easily deal with it. She looked down at herself, and noticed that she was in a large shirt, and a pair of jeans. She blushed as she realized that Shikamaru must have changed her clothes for her. Not that she thought that he was a pervert or anything, in fact, she was greatly appreciative.

After she had cleaned herself up, she slowly walked out into the living room. Shikamaru was sitting on the couch, watching t.v., more or less just staring at the screen boredly. His head snapped in Ino's direction as he heard her footsteps on the floor grow louder. He put the glass of coffee he held down on the small coffee table in front of where he was sitting, and stood quickly, staring at Ino.

"Shikamaru..." She whispered, on the edge of tears.

"Ino,... are you ok?" Her response came out in small arms clutched tightly around his waist, and tears on his shirt. He pulled her close, almost instinctively, and rubbed his hand up and down her back.

"Thank you, Shika." She spoke barely above a whisper against his chest. He pulled back to look her in the eyes.

"Chouji told me what's going on." He said it in a concerned tone.

"Oh.." She put her head down, ashamed.

"Why didn't you tell me anything? You know that I'm always here for you, if I can be." He looked sadly at her.

"I just... didn't want you to worry,... and I thought that I could just get through it on my own and"

"You can't always do everything by yourself, Ino!" He almost yelled at her, upset, but concerned.

"I know. I'm sorry." Tears welled up again against her eyelids.

"You need to stop apologizing, it's not your fault. And please stop crying, for me?" He said in a kinder tone, gathering a sad smile from her. She blushed and pulled away, trying to walk around him.

"I should probably get out of your hair, I'll get home." He grabbed her shoulders to stop her from walking away.

"Woah, nuh uh."

"What? Why?" She gave him a puzzled look.

"You're staying here from now on."

"Why?" He sighed.

"Because, first of all, that apartment building is horrible, and it's in a bad neighborhood. Secondly, you're not going back to that damn job."

"Ok, then how am I supposed to pay you for the rent if I did stay here?"

"Don't worry about it, I make plenty of money."

"Yeah, but.."

"No buts, I don't care, I'll chain you down here if I have to." He stared sternly at her.

"Why are you doing all of this for me?" She asked sadly.

"You're seriously asking that question? Listen, you're my friend, the first one I ever had, and the best one I'll ever have, I care about you deeply. If you keep going down the path that you're following now, you're gonna be in trouble one day, and I'm not gonna be there to help you." Another stern stare escaped his eyes. She walked up and hugged him again, tears slowly falling down her cheeks.

"You have no idea how good of a person you are, Shika." She hugged him tighter. She looked up and smiled at him.

"I must not be too bad, I got you to smile." He smiled back at her.

"You're sure that I'm not too annoying?" She slightly giggled.

"If you're sure that I won't be too annoying."

"You are _not _annoying Shika. You may be lazy, but not annoying." She smiled.

"Ok then." He smiled back at her, before she pulled away.

"I'll cook breakfast." She happily waltzed into the kitchen and started pulling out materials from the cabinets and the fridge.

After she was done cooking, they sat quietly at the table while they ate.

"I didn't know that you could cook so well, Ino." He gave a curious look as she took another bite of food. She blushed.

"Thanks."

Their day went on slowly, since it was the weekend, there was really nothing to do. They mainly just sat around watching t.v., or Ino was cleaning up a bit. He stared at her as she cleaned up in the kitchen. She had changed back into her regular clothes, and boy, did she look good in them. He eyed the soft skin of her lower thighs that showed when her skirt would ride up, before she would smooth it back down. Not that he hadn't seen the soft skin of her naked form before; on the occasions that she would arrive drunk at his doorstep, he would often have to clean her up and change her clothes, last night being no different; except for the fact that the alcohol stench stained her clothes, not her breath.

But it was just now that he realized just how attractive she was. He liked it most when she wore her hair down, and didn't wear any makeup, it was natural, and simple, the way that he liked it. And that's what she looked like now; he was suprised. He lost himself in the thoughts of his fingers running over the soft skin of her body, and his strong hands supporting her back as she pressed tightly against him. He caught himself before he got too deep with it, and shook his head as a warmth entered his cheeks.

He had admitted to himself on _many _occasions that he was undoubtingly _in love _with her. The only problem with it was, that he didn't know how she felt. He didn't want to force himself upon her; she cherished their friendship deeply, and he didn't want to lose that close bond. Even though it wasn't exactly what he wanted, it was definately better than nothing at all. He hoped that, with time, she would feel the same way. He had plenty of other girls that chased after him, he could have any of them he wanted, but Shikamaru wasn't that kind of person. He didn't want one night stands, or wild parties, where all of the girls were just lifeless sex machines with alcohol drenched breath. He wanted a _relationship. _He wanted someone to love, not a body to love. He believed that everyone had a soul mate; you could call him old school. And he also believed that Ino was the one for him. He just didn't see in other girls what he saw in Ino. He had seen Ino at her best, and at her worst, and that's what brings people closer together, or at least, that's what he thought.

They spent the evening sitting in front of the t.v., mainly just flipping through the channels. A faint tint of pink blotched Shikamaru's cheeks as Ino rested her head on his shoulder and snuggled closer to him.

"...Hey, Shika?" She quietly spoke.

"Hn?" He just grunted in response.

"... nevermind." She smiled, and shifted slightly, closing her eyes. He gave a puzzled look at her, and then shrugged it off.

She almost jerked up at a loud knock at the door. Shika was shifting to get up, but she beat him to the door.

"I'll get it." She said with a half smile.

She opened the door slowly, and on the other side revealed a tall man. As her eyes met his clouded ones, she went wide-eyed and stared in horror at the familiar face. She fell backwards on her bottom, all the while just staring at the man in shock. She whispered through her fear-clogged throat.

"Dad..."


	3. Confession After Conflict

Here's the third chapter, I hope you like it. :)

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"Did you just say Dad?!" Shikamaru instantly stood up, almost paralyzed by the shock of who it was.

He stumbled in drunkly, and slurred his filthy language; that part Shikamaru wasn't suprised at.

"You stupid bitch. You tried to fuckin' run away from me, tried to fuckin' run away from your own father, you should be ashamed. You did exactly what your fucking mom did, you left. Your fuckin' whore ass has probably been sleepin' around with everyone, you worthless piece of shit!" He limped toward her, and gripped her neck, as she cried out and tears spilled from her eyes.

"You're not so bad now are you bitch? There's nowhere to go now!" His slurred words were hard to make out.

In an instant Shikamaru had knocked her father to the ground with one punch. The adrenaline boost made him unstoppable as he wailed punches and kicks at him. Ino's father could barely fight Shikamaru off, as he tried to stand up. He grabbed him by the shoulders and thrust him into a glass cabinet sitting across the room, and Ino screamed at the shattering sound of pain. Ino acted on instinct and ran over to the phone, dialing 911.

"This is 911, what is your emergency?" A woman's voice answered.

"Yes, I live with my friend, and my father intruded in, drunk, and" She was cut off by a punch to the back, and the voice on the other end heard her cry of disraught.

"Hello!? Ma'am!? We'll have officers sent right out!" Ino felt just a bit emotionally relieved, as she heard the information. Her physical status wasn't as well treated though, after another blow to her back, she fell and passed out, the only thing she could remember was Shikamaru running after her father in an anger rushed rage.

She awoke in Shikamaru's arms, sitting in the back of an ambulance that was parked on the front lawn. Her vision was blurred just a bit as she saw a peramedic walk up to them.

"Ok, Shikamaru, your wounds are worse than Ino's, but it's not bad enough for emergency treatment. You should be fine if you change the bandages often, and clean out the wounds where we removed the glass particles."

"Anything serious with Ino?"

"I don't think so, it really just looks like she has some bad bruises on her body, which will have to heal on their own, I'm sure that she'll be fine. You two can go back inside whenever you feel is fine." The doctor smiled at him and walked away. Ino heard a relieved sigh escape Shikamaru's lungs as he stood up, and walked towards the house. She noticed that he limped a bit as he carried her.

"...Shikamaru?.." He looked down at her, and grinned.

"So you're awake? Thank God, I was starting to worry." He hugged her close, and Ino blushed.

"What happened?" His mouth dropped just a tad.

"Well, shortly after you called 911, I had to hold down your father untill they got there, which wasn't far off. They took him away, and they said that they were almost positive that he would serve time." Ino started crying again.

"Thank you, Shika." She looked up at him with sleepy eyes, and he put his finger to her lips.

"Shh, we'll talk tomorrow, you need to rest." She fell asleep in his arms as he carried her to bed.

When Ino awoke, she noticed that the window wasn't as bright as it usually was. The sky was shrouded by clouds, and rain poured from the sky.

_'An ugly day after an ugly night.' _She thought this to herself and almost laughed.

She stood up, and she noticed that it didn't hurt that bad, the bruises must've already started to heal. She walked out into the living room after cleaning herself up, and saw Shikamaru sitting on the couch. He had his shirt off, which brought heat to her face, and he was trying to bandage up some of his wounds. He had part of the medical tape around his arm, and part of it in his mouth, trying to tie it, but had no luck.

"Damn it."

"You want some help?" He jerked his head towards her and smiled.

"Yeah, if you don't mind. How are you feeling?"

"I don't mind at all." She smiled back at him. "I'm feeling ok, the bruises really don't hurt that bad." She walked over and sat down beside him on the couch. He turned his back to her so she could get better access to the wounds. She untied all of his old bandages and threw them to the floor. She took out the antibiotic cream, and rubbed it on the wounds, and she could feel him relax right under her fingers. After she had rebandaged all of his wounds, she wrapped her arms around his torso and rested her head on his upper back, closing her eyes.

She loved being around Shikamaru, Shika was her nickname for him. He didn't seem to mind, so she kept calling him it. But it seemed like he didn't let anyone else call him that, that made her feel special. She basked in the feel of her face pressed to the skin of his muscular back. They were such good friends, and Ino enjoyed that, but she had always hoped for more though. She had fallen in love with him. She had fallen in love with him _long _ago. Shortly after they first met, when they were kids. It was just a crush back then, but it had turned into something more. But she didn't know how Shikamaru felt, so she didn't risk the friendship, she didn't know what she would do if she lost any kind of relationship with him. She _loved _him. She _loved _everything about him. His laziness, his smarts, his sometimes smart aleck attitude. His kindness, and... his body. She blushed to herself as she thought about it.

"Thanks." His speech broke her from her daze.

"No problem... Shika?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't always have to stand up for me if you don't want to." She sounded almost sad.

"But I do want to."

"But what if something dangerous happens, and you could die? Would you still want to do it then?"

"Yes." He said it stern and surely.

"But..."

"What brought all of this up?" He asked. She pulled away from him and sat beside him.

"I was thinking..."

"What?"

"I was thinking that, what if one day, you stand up for me, and you end up dead? Then you would be dead because of me."

"Don't worry about things like that."

"But... I just do..."

"Just don't, ok?" He stood up and walked into the kitchen to get something to drink. He turned to see her on the edge of tears.

"Why are you crying?"

"I just... worry so much about you." She stood up and leaned against the door frame that led into the kitchen. He gave her a half-angry look.

"_You _worry about _me_? Can you even possibly imagine how much _I _ worry about _you_?!" He turned towards her and walked up to her.

"Well maybe you shouldn't worry so much!" She yelled.

"Why in the hell are you being so damn difficult!?" She stared into his eyes with teary ones, and then walked over to the front door and opened it.

"I need to leave for a little while." She looked down.

"What is your problem!? I don't see why you're acting so wierd!" She turned around and stared him in the eyes. She choked back more tears.

"Damn it Shika! It's because _I LOVE YOU_!" She let the tears fall and she turned and ran out the door.

Shikamaru fell to his knees in shock.

"She _loves _me?" He whispered it to himself.

Ino ran as fast as she could through the rain, her hair and her clothes slowly getting soaked. She ran, looking for a place to get her mind off of him. But the place she was running to would just remind her all the more of him.

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I know that this chapter moved a little fast, sorry. :( I hope you liked it though.


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